Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Myopic Progressives in Cincinnati

On one side of the debate stands
the forces of the entrenched status quo; demanding that the historical order
and hierarchy be left undisturbed, that "we elect leaders to make these
decisions..."

Opposing the status quo are those
who believe in the sanctity of the rights of the people; and that foremost
among them are the rights of petition and referendum, in essence, the right of
the people to speak their will directly.

The great irony of the debate is
that Cincinnati, once a great bastion of progressive thought - the home of the
Charter form of government - has been in recent years portrayed as
anti-progressive, ultra-status quo.

And yet here we stand today with a
judicial ruling that states unambiguously that indeed, the progressive spirit
of Cincinnati's Charter survives. And that the Charter means what it says.
"The initiative and referendum powers are reserved to the people on all
questions which council is authorized to control by legislative action..."
means exactly that. Whatever council can do legislatively, the people of
Cincinnati can do or undo on their own, through the powers of initiative and
referendum.

Somehow this is too much progressivism
for some.

We note that Mallory didn't shed
any crocodile tears in 2011 as Union firefighters and cops used those very
rights to overturn Senate Bill 5.

Perhaps Mallory and Qualls and
their supporters just forget the importance of being progressive.

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